


[Fandom stats] Check Please!: Zimbits is canon! ... What happens in fandom?

by toastystats (destinationtoast)



Series: Fandom Stats [11]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic), Fandom - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-11 00:53:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7017721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destinationtoast/pseuds/toastystats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A statistical look at activity in the Check Please! fandom immediately following the Zimbits kiss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	[Fandom stats] Check Please!: Zimbits is canon! ... What happens in fandom?

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally [posted to Tumblr](http://destinationtoast.tumblr.com/post/142972082179/toastystats-zimbits-is-canon-what-happens-in) on April 17, 2016.

I took a peek at what’s been happening in the [@omgcheckplease](https://tmblr.co/mFRZqA9ISLgV5C1MGQ99mmA) fandom since the main pairing, Zimbits, became canon on Feb 26, 2016. 

In brief: there’s been a huge surge in activity in the fandom in the less than 2 months since the canon first kiss!   **45% of the Tumblr fandom tag activity in #omgcp**  since Summer 2014 (the earliest activity I could find) has happened since then, and **27% of all AO3 fanworks have been posted or updated!** (I said in the chart above that they were published since then, but actually, previous WIPs that have updated since Zimbits got together would also have been captured in this stat).  And the **daily posting rates have also jumped 2.3-6x**   on both platforms.

It looks like I was far from the only new fan to take an interest in the fandom after hearing about the canon queer pairing – although I’m sure some of the activity is also generated by joyous fans already in the community, I’d guess that an increase of this size signals a whole lot of new fans as well.  However, the methods of a fandom analyst like [@fffinnagain](https://tmblr.co/muNvEQ34YsWtav2AFUPbBRg) are better suited to answering questions of how many new authors have entered the fandom!

[ **Edit:** and in fact, [Finn did so!](http://fffinnagain.tumblr.com/post/143036204293/destinationtoast-toastystats-zimbits-is)]

The types of fanworks that AO3 creators have been focusing on more in the wake of the Feb 26 comic are mostly not so surprising.  There’s a lot **less focus on getting them together, or what their first kiss might be like, and more on how they’ll come out to others.** And, as is no surprise now but would not have been predictable before Feb 26, **Texting** **has seen a huge surge** in popularity. :)

As for other trends, I’m less certain.  Will Friendship and Future Fic both continue to decline?  Will both Fluff and Angst both continue to rise? **I think it’s probable that several of these recent trends are temporary phenomena,** as we have very little post-Zimbits data yet.  We’ll have to keep watching!

Thanks to [@clavisa](https://tmblr.co/mL9czOR0cg0on328stAG5Jg) for the beta read on the slides – and especially to [@scribblinaway](https://tmblr.co/mBb41Gi7czZ2lLyJLoGrFHQ) for the super helpful following info about what the earlier spikes in activity might be on the timelines:

> Going back quickly, the spike in tumblr tagging circa September 2015 may have been related to the strip about Lardo’s art show? I know that was a more Lardo/Shitty comic but it inspired a lot of Bitty & Lardo friendship fic and inevitably some zimbits as well.      
>    
>  As for earlier AO3 spikes… Feb/Mar 2015 was when people were receiving the Huddle zines they got as Kickstarter perks so that may have had an impact.  Also there was a strip about Parse.  There’s another spike in December 2014, probably Yuletide related, but also this:  
>    
>  <http://36.media.tumblr.com/d78b0bf08db3af1dbc6f37063b162041/tumblr_ng1ga52Sn71szaospo6_1280.jpg>  
>    
>  And this: <http://omgcheckplease.tumblr.com/post/106126040102>  
>    
>  SO basically: PINING.

**Edit:** see further info in the comments about the Sept 2015 spike -- it was also apparently the first update in ages.

**Author's Note:**

> I also have lots more stats at [destinationtoast.tumblr.com/stats](http://destinationtoast.tumblr.com/stats) that I keep intending to archive on AO3, and I still hope to get around to it eventually... but check them out there in the meantime. :) You can also follow just fandom stats posts at [toastystats.tumblr.com](http://toastystats.tumblr.com/).


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